Top Turkish prosecutor refiles case to shutter pro-Kurdish party
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Turkey’s third largest party, faces the threat of closure once more after a top prosecutor refiled an indictment late Monday seeking to ban nearly 500 members from politics on terror-related charges.
ISTANBUL — A top Turkish prosecutor refiled an indictment with the Constitutional Court late Monday seeking the closure of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Turkey’s third largest party, on terror-related charges.
The original indictment was rejected in March for procedural omissions. Turkey’s Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation Bekir Sahin resubmitted an expanded petition demanding a ban on nearly 500 HDP members from holding political office for up to five years for allegedly fostering ties with Kurdish militias.
The new 850-page indictment, which was filed on the six-year anniversary of the HDP’s entry into parliament after Turkey’s June 7, 2015, elections, also requested judges consider cutting financial aid to the HDP from the nation’s treasury amounting to about $7.7 million for 2021.
Sahin said in a written statement the HDP has committed crimes against the independence of the state, according to the state-owned Anadolu news agency, and a rapporteur was assigned to review the case shortly after the indictment was submitted. HDP officials have denied links to terrorist groups.
